Our final week in Party Town Phuket

Phuket,Thailand
Tuesday, June 11, 2013

We must start by welcoming our new readers. Last week we made a jab at the Chinese Internet police who seem to be reading all of our Chinese blogs. This week we say hello to some real newbie's. We have had nearly 1,500 hits last week and the vast majority were from the UK. We've also had readers come via Trip Advisor where our hotel reviews seem to be well received, but where the mass of new readers have come from we don't know, maybe Chris Evans gave us a shout out on Radio2 after we sent him an email. If so we never heard it as we are often out when he is on air, but where ever you found us from its nice to have you with us. We hope you will 'check in' again and follow us as we get back to some more action packed days.

Time flies when you're having fun

Our time in Phuket has been rapidly slipping away which means that the simplicity of our daily routines will soon be a thing of the past. Although we could both easily get used to the 'Phuket lifestyle' getting up in time for a cooked breakfast, followed by a trip to the gym late morning, heading to the beach or pool in the afternoon, before a take away and a night on the town.. enough is enough and it's time to put the rucksacks back on and head south. With heavy hearts we are sad to be saying goodbye but our livers are saying the time is right! It's a low alcohol diet from now on. Sonya often asks Ross what uni. life was like and if anybody else has a similar question, come to Thailand and do some 'time at the Penitentiary bar' it's the next best thing.

We are ready for the next part of our journey and therefore we want to make sure that we have everything booked and organised. Although this takes a long time to sort out initially, we feel that it's a much better way of doing things as it takes away any stress that we might come across on the road and generally saves us both time and money.

As we have mentioned in previous blogs, when planning this trip we spent many, many hours trawling the internet, reading other peoples travel blogs for inspiration and of course reading many Lonely Planet books. This was an important part of the planning as it gave us an outline on costs and it also gave us an idea on what sights and activities we most wanted to do in these places, but of course things change, making it essential for us to go over the list and re-evaluate what it is we want to do. It has been a busy few days with lots of reading but it's been really good to refresh our memories and get our heads firmly focused on the upcoming weeks ahead.

BREAKING NEWS....... it's official....... we have now planned through to the point where travelling by land where practical will no longer be practical! Yes you guessed it, we have now booked our first flights of the trip. We have decided to drop East Malaysia and the Philippines due to recent troubles and will now be flying from Singapore direct to Bali and then Bali onto Perth. A very surreal moment and we can hardly believe we will have soon reached this part of the trip. We've also booked our car hire in Perth and our train tickets and accommodation right through to the end of Australia making us very excited about the prospect of the next few weeks.

Horse Riding

So what else have we been doing this week we hear you ask? Well Ross went on another horse ride, this time wearing his half chaps so he didn't end up with an injury or hospital visit : It was a beautiful sunny day and Sonya came along to take some photographs and enjoy the beach. Ross had a great time and it was a nice break from all the planning and research.

(Wo)Man vs Chang - The Chang Tower Challenge

After a very long day working on our plans we both felt that we deserved a night off so we finished up early, showered and headed out to attempt the Chang Tower Challenge which consisted of 3 litres of ice cold Chang beer which has become our favourite tipple :-) We had a great time and we not only attempted the challenge but managed to complete it too! It has to be said though,by the time Sonya had drunk a few glasses and was merrily chatting away it was Ross who consumed the most in the end. We took our time and afterwards we went over to our friend's bar. It was a busy night and turned out to be one of the best nights out so far and yet again we were still at the bar gone 3am.... not bad when everywhere 'closes' at 2! We enjoyed a few too many beers and were given far too many free shots but overall it was a great night.

We have loved our time here in Phuket and have enjoyed getting into a daily routine but we are more than ready to move on and are looking forward to the next part of our adventure!

That's all for this week!

Team Chip

Hotel Review

We booked to stay at Hemingway's Hotel in a superior double private although on check in were upgraded to a suite. Hemingway's hotel is the sister hotel to the slightly newer Patong Hemingway's Hotel and is located slightly further away from the madness of Soi Bangla, but still within easily walking distance even after the nightlife ends. The room was very well equipped with a big LCD TV, fridge, safe and although a small extra... a kettle, which is uncommon in Asia. The bed was the most comfortable we have had the pleasure to stay in on our big adventure and combined with the super powerful shower it was a fantastic place to drop our bags for a few weeks. Free use of the roof top swimming pool at the sister hotel only a 5 minute walk away is an easy stop off on the way to or from the beach. A good quality 3* hotel, we would definitely recommend Hemingway's to all other travellers.

8.5/10